The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the stand of Delhi police on a plea by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair challenging the legality of his police remand in a case related to an alleged objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.
Justice Sanjeev Narula issued notice on the petition and granted two weeks to the investigating agency to file its response to the petition which challenges the trial court's June 28 order granting four days of custody of Zubair to the police.
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets and was sent to one-day police custody by the trial court on the same day. After being produced on the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation, his custody was extended by another four days by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Savaria.
Earlier this month, a case against Zubair was registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc.) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). As per the trial court's order, Zubair would be next produced before it on July 2 upon the expiry of the four days of police remand.
Police said the case was registered on the complaint of a Twitter user who accused him of hurting religious sentiments.
